Four radge lasses shooting the men that have crossed them and dumping them into the harbour. That’s how Wedding Belles starts. The 2007 Channel 4 black comedy, written by Irvine Welsh set in Leith, centres around four friends; Amanda (Michelle Gomez),  Kelly (Shirley Henderson), Rhona (Shauna McDonald) and Shaz (Kathleen McDermott) in the build-up to Amanda’s wedding. Each of the women is in an outrageous and grimly funny situation, often imposed upon them by male figures of varying despicability.

These situations range from the sadly real topics that Irvine Welsh has long been associated with – drug abuse, mental health problems and alcoholism – to the more bizarre such as Shaz’s affair with a priest.

The story is told eclectically, switching the narrative cleverly between the four women as they go about their business, sometimes switching setting temporally as well – including a particularly sad scene where Rhona remembers her last moments with her fiancé.

This sadness is an anomaly though: everywhere else the show takes negativity and channels it into dark humour – a traumatic scene in a bar that ends with a brutal beating is played off with a punch line, a recounting of the suicide of a depressed woman initially seems serious until the main characters laugh it off with some banter.

That seems to sum up the entire show’s mood; it builds tension with the mounting pressure of frictional situations, and then deflates the sour bubble with a sweet needle of dark humour. This can take the form of a punch line, a subtle look lacking concern from one of other characters or an entire scene of comic relief, with the girls dancing raucously in bars you've probably done the same in.  This interesting form of humour delivery adds to the thoroughly original narrative.  The acting is strong, with the stand-out performance coming from Michelle Gomez, of The Book Group and Green Wing, playing local business woman Amanda impeccably – a vindictive, clever and likable protagonist who treads the line between hero and anti-hero.

Wedding Belles is a great example of dark humour; grinning cynically through the most bizarre and disheartening of topics. Only a few years old and perhaps one of the only things you’ll ever watch set in Leith, it’s very worthwhile viewing.